Chapter 1 Introduction

This course surveys the central concepts in ecology: evolution, population dynamics, community interactions, biogeochemical cycling, and limiting factors, as well as how those factors are measured, quantified, and interact with drivers of global environmental change. This course is required for the B.S. in Environmental Sciences degree program, and also the B.S. in Environmental and Sustainability Studies degree. This course acquaints students with foundational concepts and theories in ecology and provides a broad basis for more advanced courses in subdisciplines and applications of ecology.

In lab, we will conduct experiments and practice skills used in the ecological sciences. In addition to field and experimental techniques, these skills include data collection and analysis. Learning how to manage, manipulate and analyze data in R will serve your undergraduate career and beyond! In ENV 226 lab, we will ease you into using R for all your data needs!

How to use this resource

Each chapter in this online book corresponds to lab that you will complete. For most labs, you will download R code that you will use to analyze your data, and that can be also be used for other analyses and projects that you have in college and in the workplace.

Important downloads

Your rubrics for the lab report and final class project poster can be downloaded here:

These links are also embedded within the class projects for which you will create the lab report and the poster.